The Indiana State sentinel. [volume] (Indianapolis) 1868-1895, 1887-01-19
Cooking Food for Stock.

lPnliaQelpnla RECORD.
1t has been conceded by the majority of
those who advocate cooking food for stock
that greater gain of carcass is secured from
cooked food than from that which ic IN
cooked, hut the obstacle in the way has been
the labor and cost incurred by cooking the
food. In all the reports from the Commits
sioners of Agriculture the experiments that
had been made with cooked food showed
that large saving was effected in the guam
tity Of the food, and greater increase in re-
suits was also secured in pr oportion to the
amount fed as compared with the same
quantity in q raw state. In one experiment
it was claimed that while one bushel of raw
corn made six pounds of pork, the same
amount cooked made seventeen and half
pounds of pork, which is quite difference,
though not showing really the relative pro-
portions 10 be relied upon. Other expert
ments show that the average gain by cook
ing the food is about IS per cent, but there
are many other advantages which partially
compensate for any expense incurred during
the process.
Food that may be unpalatable in the raw
81 ate may be rendered acceptable to stock
when cooked, as heat not only renders 1t
more easily digestible by breaking and soft
ening the material, but also by destroying
musty odoIs and eliminating disagreeable
matter that could in no other manner be re-
moved. 1t is plain, therefore, that il, by
cooking, certain foods can be utilized that
would be rejected if fed unccoked, the gain
is almost without cost, as it saves that which
would otherwise be total loss, and on this
ore item alone the cost of labor may be
pICiiGb J borne. When several kinds Of
food are cooked together il enables the
farmer to mix the bulky materials with those
more concentrated, thus combining not only
the various favoTs, but greater variety OF
nutritious matter which will be completely
lnsumed.
Less time is required for bringing the AMI
NAL into proper condition for market by the
use of cooked food, for the reason that it is
more easily digesIed; and, if preferred, raw
food may also be fed in connection with that
which is cooked. On cold winter morningsif
cooked food be fed the farmer gains some
thing from the warmth OF the mess itself, as
every pound of food eaten goes to the sup
ply OF heat and waste of the body in proper
tiOD to tie effects OF tie cold, the tempera-
ture of the atmosphere partially regulating
tie supply required; and hence feeding
warm food lessons the quantity necessary for
protection against cold.
EaWith all the advantages that may be stated
it has nevertheless been demonstrated
on some farms that the cooking of food is
improbable, as labor and fuel more than
balance the gain for the cooked food, as
compared with the raw; but while it may
not be profitable to cook the food for one
COW, or two or three hogs, yet the larger the
number of animals the lower the cost will
be pTopOTtiOnateIy, and whether IL VIII pay
to feed cooked food depends somewhat
on the cost of the food and the facility
of transportation to market. There is one
fact, however, that can not be denied, and
that is the cooking of food enables the
farmer to feed certain materials which are
not relished by stock when such materials
are unprepared, and the saving so effected
depends on the number of the animals on
the farm.